My personal feelings on the change:
Conceptually, I like the idea of what it represents, it could be interesting to draw curious people, however I find it will be very difficult for the new logo to “tell a story” on its own without substantial explanation.
I am afraid it will not be recognizable and will make initial interactions less impactful leading to quick disengagement before learning more.

Below are some of the elements a logo should have or what it should accomplish. I think the new black dot can connect with current users and we understand the meaning, but it leaves a lot to be desired for some of the key elements for an impactful, recognizable logo.

There are so many elements that go into a brand logo:Identity - telling the storyStructure (word vs image vs combined) - what does it needColor Scheme - impacts emotional connection and recognitionImpact - push or pull the consumer

And there are many goals that a logo should seek to achieve:Simplicity - story can be told and brand identity shown with very little explanationRecognition - consumers should be able to recall quickly, easily, and with little additional contextVersatility - can be used anywhere any sizeConnection - connects with the consumer emotionally and their core values

Consumers often buy products or engage with products for their logos alone. A black dot will be difficult for a consumer to “engage” with.

I’m not a graphic designer, but from a marketing perspective I try to think about the story that’s being told and how clear it is to the consumer.

I can share more thoughts on specifics and how the dot hits or doesn’t hit different elements, but this is already a long post. If anyone is interested I’m happy to share more!

(For the record, I think this is clever, but this would work better if the brand was a major corporation with an already established l brand awareness.)

Part of the reason why you would want to have a logo is for SEO. You want your assets at the top of google image search. A black box will NEVER get picked up that high and Incognito.org will lose on SEO.

@Ssmccul I don’t agree with your sentiment on this. I’m sure the decision was not made arbitrarily or because they didn’t want to spend etc.

There is real merit to the concept. Almost every brand or logo launch is met with people who don’t like it and others that love it. I frankly like the concept, but I think the platform and brand awareness needs to mature a lot more first.

Comparing it to a black hole doesn’t make logical sense to me. We don’t even know what happens when things enter a black hole. I guess you could say there are theories of what would happen…I keep picturing myself telling a friend to check out incognito and they ask about the logo. I tell them it represents a black hole. Send your crypto into a black hole…doesn’t quite have the right ring to it.

This is my thinking as well, I was on the call today when they announced it, but I missed them actually say black hole (if they did), so not sure if that is the message. It’s more the idea of untraceability. You can’t see anything. I don’t know if the black hole was a side comment from users, a quick analogy, or the basis for the design, but I agree with what you said. A black hole or “emptiness” isn’t exactly reassuring, it’s a little hard to explain and I’m not sure it would exactly provide a sense of security to a new user.

I think the goal is to remove any nefarious connotation, but I don’t exactly see a positive spin on a black dot / circle / hole.